See you later, holidays

The holidays are over. Well, I guess New Years is yet to happen, but the holiday season, in my mind, is over.

I start to dread them around mid October, then the next thing you know you've been stuff to the gills with mashed potatoes and chocolate and it's January 1st. Now the real winter begins. It always feels like once Christmas has passed that winter is almost over. But no. There are at least 4 more months of this crap.

I used to be a winter person. But I've changed. I think it was last winter that did it. It started early and lasted so long. Then we got about 3 weeks of summer and fall kicked in. Now here we are again. It's just too soon. Here's to hoping it's over by April (or at the very least May).

Christmas treated me well. It was a good year. I didn't have to buy much which made it much more enjoyable. Not that I'm a scrooge or anything, but I think the giving and receiving part of Christmas is lost anyway, so why bother. It has always seemed silly to me to tell people exactly what I want only so they can buy it for me when I could just as easily buy it for myself. But instead, I spend the same amount of money on something for them that they could just buy themselves. Maybe if we put the guessing game back into it, then I could find the spirit. But then there is just so much pressure.

I did have to go to church on Christmas Day. My mother-in-law sings in the choir. It was a Catholic service in a brand new church. It was like sitting in a ski lodge. There was nothing spiritual about it. The priests' voices came through on tiny speakers that made them sound alien. It just creeped me out. I'm not a religious person and I was not raised Catholic, so the whole thing was just weird and I wanted to leave as soon as I stepped through the door. But it was not until over an hour later that I was set free.

My family get together consisted of food. It was one of the best spreads we've had. We do potluck style and there was a lot of variety and a ton of stuff that I can eat (I'm a vegetarian). One of my sisters, who insists she can get me to go back to eating meat in one week spent with her, made me a my very own seven layer salad minus the bacon. It was a big step for her and I really appreciated it.

Now I'm back at work for three days and then I get another four day weekend. Oddly enough, I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine again. I'm at work now and have zero motivation since no one is here and I only have a day and a half left before another extended weekend.

It looks like I will be spending New Years at home with my husband and dog and this is just fine with me. We were invited to a party/bar hopping extravaganza, but that just didn't sound intriguing.

I'm getting ready to head home with day one almost in the books. Unfortunately, Prison Break is on a holiday hiatus. So it will just be laundry for me tonight.

1 1/2 more days....